The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Shifting in vehicles with a manual transmission requires driver skill for relatively smooth shifts. For a downshift, the clutch is applied and the manual transmission moves through neutral before engaging another gear. For smoother downshifts, some drivers rev the engine while the transmission is in neutral to speed up the engine. This allows the engine speed to match the transmission speed. During downshifts, the driver is seldom successful at matching the engine speed with the transmission speed by revving the engine and simultaneously engaging the clutch.
When shifting to a higher gear, the driver applies the clutch and moves through neutral before selecting the next higher gear. While in neutral, the engine slow downs to a proper speed to engage the transmission. The vehicle also slows while the transmission is in neutral. The time in neutral may depend on the grade, wind, driver skill and other similar factors. The performance and fuel economy of the vehicle tends to degrade as the driver spends more time in neutral to match the engine speed with the transmission speed.